Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the: (1) compliance of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic, commonly known as the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Commission, with the Federal Advisory Committee Act; and (2) White House procedure for identifying and resolving commission members' potential or actual conflicts of interest.
GAO found that, although the Commission complied with the act's principal requirements, it did not always use the required form for its advance notice of meetings, failed to provide timely notice of six meetings, and omitted required information from its meeting minutes. GAO also found that: (1) it could not thoroughly examine the White House's conflict-of-interest review process, since the White House would not provide that information for review; (2) 10 of the 13 Commission members were involved in operations that could have had financial interests in commission matters; and (3) the White House did not grant Commission members waivers from application of conflict-of-interest provisions until 2 months after establishment of the Commission, exposing the members to the risk of possible criminal violations.
